City of St. Cloud accuses Charter of violating agreement

Charter Communications has violated its franchise agreement with St. Cloud by changing government access channels without approval, according to the city.

St. Cloud and Charter have been negotiating an extension of the franchise agreement that allows the company to use public right of way to provide its service. In July, the City Council approved a 60-day extension to the agreement while terms could be worked out on a longer agreement.

On Monday, the council will vote on whether to enforce the franchise agreement and demand Charter fix the issue by Oct. 10. If the company fails to comply, the city will move forward with enforcement procedures outlined in the franchise agreement.

Charter could be fined $250 for each day it is in violation of the agreement, City Attorney Matt Staehling said.

In a statement to the Times, Charter spokeswoman Kim Haas said the company plans to meet with the city Tuesday and believes it will be able to resolve outstanding issues.

"Charter has successfully negotiated many of these types of agreements with municipalities across Minnesota and we have no reason to believe that we can't reach one in St. Cloud," Haas said in a statement.

On Aug. 26, Charter changed channel numbers for the public, educational and government, or PEG, channels. Charter did not have written consent from the city to change the channels. The franchise agreement requires the company to have that consent, according to the city.

In March, Charter asked for permission to change those channels, but the city denied that request. The city said it would discuss changing the channel numbers as part of the larger conversation about the franchise agreement renewal. The city reminded Charter of that decision in June.

On Aug. 18, city and Charter representatives met and discussed changing the channel numbers, delinquent franchise and PEG fees and other negotiation topics. The groups were unable to reach an agreement, according to the city.

Charter Communications owes the city almost $20,000 in fees.

On Aug. 26, the public access channel was moved from Channel 12 to Channel 180; government access was moved from Channel 19 to Channel 181; education access was moved from Channel 6 to Channel 187; educational access for St. Cloud State University was moved from Channel 21 to Channel 188; and local access was moved from Channel 20 to Channel 189.

Franchise fees are a significant revenue resource for the city.

In 2011, the city received almost $735,000 in franchise fees and more than $140,000 in public, educational, government access fees.

Charter pays the city 5 percent of its gross revenues. The city also received 75 cents per subscriber per month for PEG access charges.

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